Cairns floods: Holloways Beach resident Daniel Bateman shares escape tale from submerged home

When his house succumbed to floodwaters, this Holloways Beach resident still had “go-bags” packed from Cyclone Jasper. The fact he and his wife had not bothered to unpack emergency items and put them away was not just laziness — it was luck.

It’s 2am on Monday and my wife and I are wide awake in a cyclone and storm tide shelter in south Cairns.

Neither of us can sleep as adrenalin is still coursing through our veins from the past 18 hours; and there is the cacophony of crying babies, chattering adults and whimpering dogs.

But everyone is happy to be here as we are safe and dry; and not stuck on a roof for several hours awaiting rescue while the relentless rain continues its onslaught of the worst flooding our quiet little suburb Holloways Beach has seen in more than 50 years.

Decades of cyclones had us ready for whatever Cyclone Jasper could have thrown at us a mere five days ago.

Floodwaters inundated homes at Holloways Beach, just north of Cairns city. Picture: Daniel Bateman.

That we still had our “go-bags” packed from earlier in the week and not bothered to put every emergency item back was not just laziness – it was luck.

For the first time in my life I had to listen to the ABC on a battery-operated radio to survive. We had no electricity, no way of knowing what was still coming our way.

Nor when or if the rain would ever stop.

Sitting at the highest point of our home, our kitchen bench, we first became annoyed at the completely random mix of 80s pop songs and 90s dad rock interrupting interviews with the Mayor, disaster managers and distressed farmers.

But then we got it.

We needed the music to calm our nerves as we watched a majority of our possessions slowly being swallowed by the murky brown void.

One of our dogs, Tilly, flipped the f--k out as we entered our third hour on the bench.

We figured she really, really needed to go to the toilet.

This was confirmed when SES finally came a hour later and rescued us from our home in a tinnie that was able to be driven up our driveway.

The moment Tilly was placed in the boat, she did an enormous turd.

Hey, when you’ve gotta go…

Daniel Bateman's home at Holloways Beach in Cairns was inundated by floodwaters after heavy rainfalls from ex-Topical Cylone Jasper. He and his wife were evacuated on the afternoon of Sunday December 17 after a scary and uncertain day stuck on first their island kitchen bench and then their roof.

The boat took us around the corner through treacherous, fast flowing waters to a neighbours’ house with a roof that was easy to access.

The neighbour wasn’t home, but the SES volunteers said he definitely wouldn’t have minded having a couple of dozen people sitting on his roof, with pets and luggage.

You’d hope his insurance would cover any dents.

The plan was, for larger boats to come to the house and take us away to safety. What “safety” actually was, was a bit vague.

There didn’t seem to be a clear plan of whether we would be ferried north or south as egress from floodwaters was a challenge; and our roof was starting to get quite crowded.

My wife, who has a medical condition, was ushered onto a boat within the first hour.

She took two bags, including one chock full of meds, and the other with spare clothes and emergency supplies.

She also took Tilly, who was shivering from exposure to the neverending rain with her short red fur.

Holloways Beach residents are being rescued by SES volunteers.

That was a good decision. I was left with our other dog Bonnie who gets anxious around other dogs but was calm and chilled in my lap as I lay hunched over her with my raincoat, keeping each other warm.

Our turn to get off the roof came about 2.5 hours later.

Someone yelled my name and I grabbed my backpack, and a bag of emergency food that my wife had packed according to disaster advice (72 hours’ worth).

SES volunteers and residents helped bring all of our belongings down off the roof into the boat.

Bonnie and I found a spot on the port side of the bright yellow swift water rescue vessel and crouched down for what we were told would be a wild ride.

They weren’t wrong. With their giant floodlight, the crew shouted and pointed out huge obstacles in our path: completely sunken roofs of homes, large tree branches, road signs.

The water was flowing furiously as our boat fought against the current to bring us to safety.

Safety, as it turned out, was a makeshift boat ramp – the actual Captain Cook highway bridge over the swollen Barron River.

In one of the most surreal moments of my life, our boat drove along the bridge – the same one I drive my car along every day to get to and from work.

Rescued residents are being moved to evacuation centres across Cairns.

As our SES angels brought the vessel to a halt, I led the passengers in a round of applause: the only thing I could think of to thank these fearless people who risked their own lives to save ours’.

The moment Bonnie’s drenched paws touched solid flat ground, her tail started wagging. She knew we were safe.

Red and blue lights and many uniformed people led us to an awaiting bus: a vehicle usually used for ferrying tourists to the World Heritage listed Daintree Rainforest.

But in this case, used to transport a boat load of soggy, shocked beach residents.

We were taken to Edmonton PCYC where more angels awaited with blankets, hot food and tea, changes of clothes, and stretchers as temporary beds.

People with pets in one section of the storm-proof complex and people without pets in the other.

Apparently Tilly did another enormous poo inside the shelter, on the carpet, as soon as she arrived with my wife.

Embarrassed, she cleaned it up. But it afforded our fellow shellshocked evacuees a small moment of levity. “She was really backed up, hey!”

Daniel Bateman's home at Holloways Beach in Cairns was inundated by floodwaters after heavy rainfalls from ex-Topical Cylone Jasper. He and his wife were evacuated on the afternoon of Sunday December 17 after a scary and uncertain day stuck on first their island kitchen bench and then their roof.

It’s difficult to process what we have all been through and what lies ahead.

They say the worst thing about flooding is not the immediate disaster – it’s everything that follows.

The mud. The mould. The mozzies. The money.

Our home of nearly a decade is presumably unliveable but I don’t want to think of the implications of that right now.

Setting up a stretcher with one of the Red Cross volunteers, he asked me how long we planned to be here.

I nearly broke down in front of him. I didn’t have an answer.

We have wonderful, amazing friends who have reached out throughout the day and night offering accommodation, food, booze, a phone line to listen – you name it.

Others we are sheltering with tonight aren’t quite as lucky and will have to rely strongly on support and welfare afforded everyone in this extreme weather event.

There is a lot of chatter here at the shelter and online about who’s to blame for this disaster. Was it the weather bureau who didn’t predict a one in 50-year flood?

Was it the council, making everyone too complacent with too many over-the-top text message alerts during Cyclone Jasper? Some bungle with dams? Or was it climate change?

No doubt this extreme weather event will be studied from every angle for years to come. But I think it will come down to just one thing: shit happens.

And sometimes it happens in a boat, or the middle of a cyclone shelter.

What is important is that you always pack poo bags to clean up the mess.

Originally published as Cairns floods: Holloways Beach resident Daniel Bateman shares escape tale from submerged home